mlroseplant

11 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Love them. By the way size 8.5, wow, middle of the female shoe size range, luck you.

Yeah, I guess I am. Usually Size 9 for fully enclosed footwear, 8.5 for sandals and mules. However, it's only been since I started wearing high heels 5-6 years ago that I do feel lucky. Do you know what a pain in the neck it is needing Size 7  or 7.5 when trying to find men's dress shoes or work boots?

I have done some research and experimenting with stairs since my last post. I will talk about this later. Right now, I want to report that I have bought some shoes that are so out of character for me that I can't believe I bought them, I love them! 

They are Mia brand, cheetah print, pointy toes. 4 1/2 inch heel, no platform. A bit steep for me, but they are super easy to walk in, if you can believe that. Now I just need to figure out an outfit and occasion to wear them out. 

So I bought these Max Mara clogs. They are just super cool looking, just the thing I wanted for wintertime. Italian made, high quality leather, the whole bit. They were a bit narrow, though, and my shoe stretcher couldn't seem to reach the exact spots that needed to be stretched. So I took the opportunity while I had a few days off of work for the Thanksgiving holiday to use the @Steve63130 method of stretching them by wetting them down and wearing them until they dried out. It worked well, but when I took them out for a spin in the real world, the top lifts (heel tips) were pretty much trashed after only a mile of walking on concrete. How disappointing! 

Oh well, now they are at the cobbler, getting the top lifts replaced. Given the relative broadness of the heels, they should be good for 50 miles after my cobbler gets done with them. It's not the first experience I've had with the heels of expensive Italian shoes wearing out quickly. I guess I have to again accept that I'm walking in shoes that really aren't designed to be walked in. Here's a photo of the damage:

This is one of those things I guess I'll just have to accept that I don't understand. It seems that more than one person likes at least the idea of it, but it's certainly not for me. I don't even like to wear socks to sleep, though it may happen to be the dead of winter. 

Having said that, I did take a 20 minute cat nap the other day on the couch with my new clogs on (feet on the floor, though). However, that was for a very specific reason. I was using the @Steve63130 method of stretching the leather by getting them wet and wearing them until they dried out and conformed to the shape of my feet. It worked again, Steve! More about this elsewhere. 

As an aside, TBG has taken up playing the cello. He's gotten pretty decent at it in a rather short time. 

Friends, it has been a while since I have posted regularly. Life has gotten busy. I have set some goals for myself outside the world of high heels that takes a good deal of my time.

Today, I want to address something that has bothered me for years. Even after more than 5 years of habitual public heeling, and over 1,000 documented miles of walking in heels, I still suck at walking down stairs. I have never actually fallen down the stairs while wearing heels, but I have come close several times. And even when I don't fear for my life, I just feel terribly awkward walking down stairs in heels. I'm a pro at it in bare feet or flat shoes. 

I think this week, I have finally pinpointed the problem. There is some combination of weakness in my quads and glutes that are simply not strong enough to control my steps downward in heels. That last couple inches to the next step downward is a bit of a freefall. I think if I could get to the point where I could hold my leading foot for several seconds an inch above the next lowest step, it would improve my grace descending the staircase. 

Any thoughts or stories about this problem?

Yes, pretty much all of the above, and twice on Thursdays. 

However, perhaps there is something I can add which hasn't been mentioned before, I have always been fascinated by the athletic challenge of wearing heels. I have always admired dancers, acrobats, and the few girls in high school who could really walk well in heels (there was one girl who would demonstrate, from time to time, that she could do cartwheels in her 4 inch heels!).   I always wondered if I could do the same. 

I still can't do a cartwheel (I don't think) even in bare feet, but I have managed to become proficient at walking fairly long distances in pretty doggoned high heels, and I have gotten to where I can do the bar thing, standing for several hours in heels. This never fails to fascinate at least one woman at any given venue. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why my favorite style of heels is mules. Some people call them slides. In other words, shoes, or more typically sandals, that are backless. With a few notable exceptions, they are harder to walk in than boots or sandals with a strap around the ankle or heel. For some dumb reason, I find this challenge attractive. And that's pretty much all I've got to say about that. It's all very complicated. And it has complicated my life, but I'm happy with where I'm at. 

17 hours ago, alphax said:

What a shockingly awful video format to where you can't select the frame, or even restart from the beginning.

Her heels are beautiful though!

Here's the other glimpse of one of her heels at the start of the video

Yeah, Instagram is definitely deficient in the fact that you can't pause the video. Using the Instagram application, you can, in fact, get the video to start over again before it finishes playing, but it's still irritating. It took me about 10 tries before I managed to capture the still shot I posted. 

It's only for a second that you can glimpse Yuja Wang's giant heels, but for people like us, it might be worth a look. Ms. Wang just posted this on Instagram. In general fashion circles, heels are getting lower, but I swear hers are getting higher! I have also included a screen shot for your viewing pleasure!

1 hour ago, Shyheels said:

I have never heard of high-heeled flip-flops....

Are we talking about the same things? 

Oh yes, they exist, and I'm not talking about those giant foam platform wedges you often see middle-aged Asian ladies wearing, I mean thong-type sandals with proper stiletto heels. I own a few pair myself, but none with a heel as high as the pair pictured below. Those are merely aspirational, both physically and financially  

99% of the high heeled flip flops out there are kitten heels, I assume because fitment can be pretty tricky, and comfort is difficult to achieve. But it can be done!

High heeled flip flops are actually kind of awesome, and I'm sure @SF would agree with me! The flat, rubber ones get ratty looking in a hurry, but I don't mind the thin-soled leather ones, if heels aren't appropriate for the environment. 

5 hours ago, Cali said:

Or stock up at end of the season ending clearance prices. But you better be out there looking for them NOW.

Oh....I'm always looking. Searchin' every which-a-way!

It has been a disappointing summer for my sandal collection. I have lost 4 pairs. On two pairs, the straps ripped out of their attachment points. I had one of these repaired, but it blew out again on me in less than a month. On another pair, the soles (both of them) separated from the footbed. Obviously defective. 

My latest mishap occurred last night. Included below are pictures of the damage. My True Religion mules were becoming comfortable enough to actually go for a walk in. Out of the box, the leather was very stiff, and they weren't really good for anything beyond running errands in. But I thought they were coming round, so the wife and I went for a short walk--about one mile. Evidently, I lost one of the top lifts (heel tips) at some point, and I ground half an inch off one of the heels. Dammit! The heels appear to be wooden, but now I know they aren't solid wood! They appear to be made of something similar to MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), and they didn't take the torture well. 

Funny thing is, I've done a fraction of the walking this summer that I have in summers past, and I never had so many sandals break on me like this!

Not fallen off, but I caught a heel on a door threshold once, and ripped the strap clear out of a sandal. That was very disappointing. It's very hard to knock me over!

Many of you may recall that last November, I reached my goal of walking 1,000 recorded miles (or about 1.600 km) in high heels. I did it by taking short walks several times a week (usually 1-3 miles at a time) over the course of close to three years. The problem with having accomplished this goal is that I have pretty much stopped walking. It has been over a year since I've had a month where I recorded more than 30 miles, which used to be about average for me. Much of 2017 has a big fat "0" next to each month in my log.

This has had three effects:

1) I take my car for many more short trips than I used to. You would be surprised how much fuel this actually burns up. As a percentage of the total mileage I drive (my commute to work is 95% highway), the short trips around town are very small, but they have significantly reduced my overall fuel economy.

2) I have gotten fatter. I haven't necessarily gained much weight, but I've definitely gotten fatter. Except for my butt, which has gotten smaller. I thought this was the case just by the way I felt, but I actually put a tape measure to it, and yes, my belly has gotten bigger, and my butt has gotten smaller. Not a good thing. YOU WOULD THINK that as physical as my job is, and how much incidental walking I have to do, that it would prevent this from happening. It has not!

3) I don't wear heels as well as I used to. Now that I have 5 years experience wearing heels regularly outside, you'd think it would be like riding a bicycle, once you learn it, you never forget. It is not. I think it's more like ballet, or practicing an instrument--if you take more than a little time off, you lose something significant, and you definitely lose endurance.

I took a short walk yesterday, the first in a very long time, and no, walking from the parking lot to the grocery store just doesn't count for much, I am discovering. I only went a mile, and I wore some nice sturdy sandals with a thicker heel. They are pretty high, with a 4" difference between the heel and forefoot (5" heel, 1" platform), but a year ago, I would have considered them good candidates for wearing to an amusement park or an all-day shopping trip. Wow! My legs were feeling fatigued after only one mile! Nothing hurt at all, and I wouldn't expect it to, but I can't believe I used to walk up to 5 miles in these things without giving much thought to it.

So, my friends, it is time for me to start regularly walking again. And probably start doing squats.

I'm with everybody else on this one, I'd keep them for a while. I have only a couple of things to add: 1) The shoe stretcher is your friend, like Cali said. Because my foot is ever-so-slightly wider than the average width women's shoe (I am somewhere between a B and C width), if a particular shoes runs narrow at all, the shoe stretcher will generally take care of that. Plus, the "bunion plugs" that come with the stretcher allow you to customize your stretching a bit. In the past, I have gotten rid of shoes that I now wish I had back because they were just tight enough in spots to where they were uncomfortable. Now with several years of experience, I kind of have a feel for what is never going to work out, and what will.

Also, in addition to their low price, it sounds like you don't wear them out anyway, so if you like the look, who cares if they hurt a bit for now? You're at home! When they start to hurt, you take them off, right? Plus, it gives you some experience to know whether these will ever work out. If you wear them 20 times at home and they hurt after 30 minutes every time, you'll know in advance, hey, I can never wear these out. That experience will save you some great anguish, because believe me, there's nothing worse than being half a mile away from your car at a crowded shopping mall or something and realizing that you should have worn different shoes.

Look for "high heel shoe stretcher" or some similarly worded search--they're pretty easy to find, believe it or not. Good luck!

I have a minute or two to ruminate some more on my life in heels at church. I normally wear sandals somewhat like that in the summertime to church. Yes, @SF, I know they are kind of high (5"), but it has taken over 4 years of fairly intensive practice to get to the point where I sometimes forget I'm wearing them. Plus, I don't have your height "problem." In fact, sometime during the last 5 years, I've lost 3/8" in height, so I now have to round down to 5'5", rather than rounding up to 5'6". Getting old!

@MackyHeels, I used to be uncomfortable talking to women about my shoes, I suppose in some part because I felt like I had to justify or explain myself. I've gotten over that some time ago, so if they want to know why, they are just going to have to ask, otherwise we'll just compare and contrast on equal footing (pun intended).

@Shyheels, you are not too wrong in your assessment of Iowa, though I guess your reply was at least partly in jest. One of the things about heeling in Iowa is that if people like your style, they will say so. If they don't, they are generally too polite to say anything, even if they notice. After all, whose parents raise them to yell at strangers? Well, unless somebody is about to lose the cargo out of the back of thier pickup truck, and they don't realize it--then it's ok to yell at strangers.

I really don't usually receive this much attention. I would say I get complimented half a dozen times per year at the most. It's just been coincidence that I've had two compliments in less than a month.

Wow, so many replies in my absence! Thank you for all the compliments and votes of confidence. I see some of you have some questions, which I will try to answer when I get time. The new job has gone into overtime already, and it's made me less available.

I received another unsolicited compliment today about my Micheal Kors sandals. There is a lady about my age who comes to church every other Sunday (I think she works every other Sunday), and she is always in heels herself, usually sustantial wedges. Today, she asked me if I liked her shoes. They were 5" wedge heeled sandals with marabou type feathers on them. I cooed over them a bit, then she asked me about my shoes, what brand they were and what size I wear. I suppose our conversation might have continued a little longer had my duties not obligated me to go right then. Included is a picture of my shoes. 

You know, on this forum, we tend to write in a more informal manner. I rather appreciate that most everyone writes intelligibly. No worries, @nzfreestyler. Sometimes, I purposefully substitute an adjective for an adverb, just for a colloquial style, which may be an American thing, I don't know. 

I was idly searching the internet the other day for a pair of Nine West Bellafina pumps, which they don't make any more, but hey, you never know when a pair might pop up somewhere. Anyway, I checked Nordstrom's website, and of course they were out of stock (don't even know why I bother anymore, I should stick to ebay and the like). However, I noted that they claimed this model had a 4 1/4 inch heel. Hmmmm? The shoes I have in Size 9 USW are over 5 1/2 inches, nearly 5 3/4 inches! Then I got to looking around the window, and found a button labeled "Heel Height Measurement." Of course, I had to click on it, and I have included a screenshot of what came up next.

Oh, I see, Nordstrom measures the heels from the side. I have always measured my heels from the back, with the ruler being perfectly plumb, that is, perpendicular to the ground, assuming the shoe is resting on a perfectly level surface. So I questioned my method of measurement. Why DO I measure heels from the back? Obviously, I will get a bigger number doing it that way, and my number has little to do with how much standing height increase I will get. Maybe I should change?

Then I realized that Nordstrom's way has a very big flaw, and that is, their method will be highly inconsistent depending on the shape of the heel of any given shoe, giving one little clue as to the true steepness of the shoe. In the Bellafina model, the heel curves from top to bottom substantially forward toward the ball of the foot.

See an example here: https://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Womens-Nine-West-Bellafina-Black-Leather/8362771/product.html

Using Nordstrom's measuring method, this gives a substantially shorter measurement compared to a shoe of the same steepness with a heel that comes almost straight down from the back (think about almost anything made by Christian Louboutin). So I am standing by my measuring method after all.

Your thoughts, please!

15 hours ago, swedeheeler said:

And... speaking of sandals I've got my eyes on those pups for a looong time. What'd you think?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/142391507294

16 hours ago, Pumped said:

Oops! Vince Camuto Niomi. Violated my own rule about posting the style name!

I kind of idly wondered. They look an awful lot like some Nine West pumps I've got, which they no longer make (Bellafina). I thought at first you had found a fresh supply somewhere, but alas, no. They are very nice looking, though!

For some reason, I find it mentally easier to wear wedges with shorts than I do shoes with a separate heel. Somehow, it doesn't seem quite so "over the top." Mind games, I suppose, since the whole getup is rather "over the top" for around here. 

It's been a while since I received a compliment from a stranger, but I got one yesterday. I was at the grocery store to pick up a couple of things real quick. I was wearing my Michael Kors Sommerly wedges with shorts and a t-shirt, nothing special. 

As I was walking in the parking lot to go back to my car, a young woman who was maybe about 25-30 years old caught my attention and said, "Cute shoes!" My first reaction was to giggle, which in the grand scheme of things wasn't a horrible reaction. I thanked her and looked down at her shoes. She was wearing white, strappy wedges which were attractive with her office casual outfit. I quickly said, "Yours, too!" We smiled at each other and walked away. A very brief encounter, but I thought it was worth noting.